Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina called upon Mission Health on Thursday to retract the contents of a private email sent out to its senior leaders last week by President and CEO Dr. Ron Paulus.
The insurance provider said the Oct. 4 email, which was sent to about 60 employees at Mission and obtained by the Citizen-Times, "deepens our concerns and dampens our hope" that the sides can strike a deal.
... Blue Cross NC specifically singled out a comment Paulus made about the uncertainty of the future, where he remarks he's at peace "whether tomorrow and the weeks to come turns out to be a bloody slaughter like storming the beaches of Normandy or precision warfare like the first Persian Gulf war." ...
I'm not necessarily opposed to a harsh tone, but health system leadership using such a violent metaphor . . . really? What an idiot.
It's time to say SCREW YOU to Blue Cross. The hubs got his new premium notice today, and they're going up $540 a month. That's over half of the current premium. Given the Mission mess, and his being four years away from Medicare, it's time to change.
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts on S. 41, the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2015. I appreciate hearing from you.
On January 5, 2017, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduces S. 41, and it was referred to the Senate Committee on Finance. If enacted, S. 41 would amend part D of Title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to negotiate with pharmaceutical manufacture the prices for prescription drugs. I understand your concern about the prices of prescription drugs, and I believe that competition is key to a robust and cost effective healthcare market that allows seniors to select healthcare plans that best meet their own needs rather than a one-size fits all application designed by Washington bureaucrats....
Sincerely,
Thom Tillis
U.S. Senator (R-NC)
Translation: He wants to end Medicare and turn it over to private insurance, and is going to do nothing about drug prices while waiting for this political impossibility to happen.
Between 2011 and 2015, the country’s 10 biggest drug companies raised the prices charged to consumers, Medicare and Medicaid, for 31 of their most widely-prescribed drugs by an average of 40% to 70%. During that same time, their untaxed offshore profits soared by two-thirds to $500 billion. The tax bills now before Congress will give drug companies a huge $80 billion tax cut on those offshore profits. That’s wrong! Instead of handing the nation's biggest drug companies a massive tax break, Congress should rein in drug prices and make sure drug companies pay their fair share of taxes.
"Support the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2017, which would allow the government to negotiate directly with drug companies to lower prices for Medicare beneficiaries, much like the Veterans Health Administration and Medicaid do today."
"Support the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2017, which would allow the government to negotiate directly with drug companies to lower prices for Medicare beneficiaries, much like the Veterans Health Administration and Medicaid do today."
So why didn't Obama when he had both houses?
Ain't gonna happen now.
Trump: “We had the safest border in the history of our country - or at least recorded history. I guess maybe a thousand years ago it was even better.”
Credit is also due to the Georgia GOP for installing Brenda Fitzgerald as Commissioner of the Department of Public Health from 2011–2017 despite her being a snake oil pusher.
Obama only ever had a clear majority in both houses. He needed a filibuster-proof Senate supermajority to get legislation passed, and he never had that.
President Obama was sworn in on January 20, 2009 with just 58 Senators to support his agenda.
He should have had 59, but Republicans contested Al Franken's election in Minnesota and he didn't get seated for seven months.
The President's cause was helped in April when Pennsylvania's Republican Senator Arlen Specter switched parties.
That gave the President 59 votes -- still a vote shy of the super majority.
But one month later, Democratic Senator Byrd of West Virginia was hospitalized and was basically out of commission.
So while the President's number on paper was 59 Senators -- he was really working with just 58 Senators.
Then in July, Minnesota Senator Al Franken was finally sworn in, giving President Obama the magic 60 -- but only in theory, because Senator Byrd was still out.
In August, Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts died and the number went back down to 59 again until Paul Kirk temporarily filled Kennedy's seat in September.
Any pretense of a supermajority ended on February 4, 2010 when Republican Scott Brown was sworn into the seat Senator Kennedy once held.